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Engagement ring found in Salvation Army red kettle

DURHAM, N.C. (WNCN) – The Salvation Army of Durham found a diamond ring in one of the kettles on Monday.

“Thanks to our #secretsanta for this beautiful anonymous donation!” the Salvation Army posted on Facebook.

The Salvation Army is sure the ring was intended as a donation because it was tightly wrapped in dollar bills.

“Sometimes you want to make sure it was a donation or if it was an accident but it was balled up around two one-dollar bills and we had to unfold it to get to it so it was definitely a donation,” said Katherine Bellamy with Salvation Army Durham.

The ring will be appraised and then sold. The money will be put towards Salvation Army programs.

“For us it’s definitely not happened this season, you hear stories of this kind of stuff happening all the time but we’ve never experienced it so it’s been really cool to be a part of it,” said Bellamy.

Such gifts are unusual, but not unheard of.

In 2014, a widow left her diamond engagement ring in a kettle in Boston in honor of her late husband. In Danville, Illinois, last year, someone left a gold bar valued at more than $1,000 in a kettle.

But all that pales in comparison to a gift last month. On Nov. 30, a couple left stunning $500,000 in a red kettle in Rosemount, Minn.